Birthday time

On 29th August went to a lovely birthday party at my friend's house, where the new thatch
has just been finished. It was a sunny day, with only one downpour - when we were all safely in the marquee filling our faces....

The view from the kitchen window makes me envious, but don't tell anyone.

Ah, the uninvited guest has arrived....

And let's not forget the cake (as if).

A day of antiques and a day at the seaside

Finally got to visit son and daughter in law in Essex. Had a great time there - went out, stopping off for petrol on the way, and visited the Bridgebarn Antiques Centre in Battlesbridge.

It was there I fell in love.....

and we all laughed at the spelling mistakes.....

and the misplaced apostrophe here and the misplaced apostrophe there, or should I just say misplaced apostrophe's?????

The next day, at my request, a visit to the seaside at Southend-on-Sea. Not a brilliant day, but not actually as gloomy as it looks in these pictures, though I didn't see any occupied deckchairs

and Nikki looked a bit wistful gazing out to sea....

Nice to see the train chugging along Southend Pier. We had lunch in a place overlooking the sea, then up the hill and home for tea.

The Wonderful World of Robert Race

Where do I start? Wonderful morning in Cirencester visiting the Mechanical World of Robert Race, with his beach buggy/boat like a childhood heaven, his flock of birds ready to fly at the touch of a button or the turn of a wheel.

Paint-brushes become shock-headed people, shells are hats or decorative touches or curly horns - oh how I would like to be inside his brain, or wander along a beach with him!

I went to a Robert Race 'Moving Toys' workshop for a whole glorious week several years ago, and wrote about it in a previous blog. I loved every minute, and he was endlessly patient, though slightly hair-raising (like the paintbrushes) the way he let us all loose with scary fretsaws and drills, but so satisfying when something worked.

This was a wonderful creation, and filled an enormous wall, and children loved playing with it.

One of my favourites, it brings childhood poems and stories to mind.

Turn the handle and watch it move!

Family Reunion

On 1st August we had a family reunion/90th birthday party in Lincolnshire at the lovely hotel where my daughter got married, and where we had a previous reunion, sadly the last one for my mother. It was a good turnout, about 40, with four having to drop out at the last minute: one child was sick at the first roundabout from home and was taken back by her mother, and my poor sister was taken to hospital with terrible pains (gallstones) and so she and brother in law didn't make it either. Otherwise, the sun shone, the wine flowed, and everyone had enough time to do a bit of catching up, and to ponder over the identity of some family members who had grown up so much they were unrecognisable! Disappointing that my daughter and grandchildren couldn't be there (particularly one who had planned to be there, but thanks to stupid airline rules was unable to come this time - but will definitely be visiting next year).

At the top, I have scanned my place marker which is a copy of a painting given as part of the birthday celebration gifts for the 90 year old - my stepfather. Happy birthday David!!

I also found an amusing item in the booklet left in my room - it mentions the film "The Wild and the Willing" (a bit faint, maybe you can't read it) but that made me laugh, as two of my sisters and I were extras in that film. So many many years ago, that if that's Lincoln's claim to fame, heaven help it! Get a grip, Lincoln!

A good weekend

A good weekend consists of Saturday morning in the workshop doing more on my current project of a sauceboat, and for once things went well and the solder melted into the right places.

Then on Sunday I met friend Claire for lunch

at the Vicky Arms in Oxford and we had a long leisurely (alliterative) lunch looking at the punters arriving on the river, splashing all over the place, but having a lovely time. An inundation of cows who came down to the riverside to investigate, turned out to be a load of bull.

Hot day - iced ginger beer was a hit.

Going a-visiting

Well, I'd be as happy as a dog if I lived here too....this is where

I went to visit friends in the

depths of Hampshire who live in an idyllic cottage just in the throes of being re-thatched, and the process is watched with interest by the wildlife in the river at the bottom of the garden.

The garden is a riot of colour, and pots are over-flowing.
I love the thickness of the thatch, and my friend and I can sip our drinks in the garden and watch the well-honed legs of the thatchers as they shoot up the ladders with their sheaves of straw and their lengths of wire and their expertise.

A very happy visit, and a million light years away from my normal surroundings.

Down by the river

On a hot summer's day, the best thing to do is go for a stroll down by the river. I took a copy of Ted Hughes and sat on a bench and watched the wildlife preening and primping and gazing at themselves in the river mirror. Even the leaves were pretty, and everything seemed to have patterns and designs.